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The FluidVoice overlay is a real-time transcription preview that appears on your screen while you speak. Words show up as they’re recognized, giving you immediate visual feedback that the app is listening and accurately capturing what you say. The overlay is fully optional—you can resize it, reposition it, or turn it off entirely.

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Overlay Sizes

FluidVoice offers four overlay sizes, ranging from minimal to expansive:

Pill

A compact, pill-shaped indicator. Shows that recording is active without displaying transcription text. Ideal if you find the preview distracting.

Small

A small bar that shows a limited amount of live transcription text alongside the recording indicator.

Medium

The default size. Displays a comfortable amount of transcription text in a floating panel.

Large

The largest overlay. Shows the most transcription text at once, useful for long-form dictation or when you want to closely track what’s being captured.

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Overlay Position

You can place the overlay at the top of your screen (in the notch area or floating) or at the bottom. The default position is bottom. To change the position, go to Settings → Overlay → Overlay Position and select your preferred placement.

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Notch-Aware Placement

On MacBook models with a notch, FluidVoice can position the overlay so it fits cleanly around the notch rather than covering it. This keeps the overlay visible and unobtrusive at the same time.
Notch overlay placement is only available on MacBook models equipped with a display notch (MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch from 2021 or later, and MacBook Pro 13-inch notch models). On Macs without a notch, FluidVoice uses standard top positioning.

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How to Configure the Overlay

1

Open Settings

Click the FluidVoice icon in your menu bar, then select Settings.
2

Go to Overlay

Click on Settings sidebar, and go to Overlay
3

Choose a size

Go to Overlay Size, and select your preferred overlay size: Pill, Small, Medium, or Large.
4

Choose a position

Go to Overlay Position, and select Top of Screen, or Bottom of Screen for where the overlay appears on screen.
5

Adjust the preview length (optional)

Use the Transcription Preview Length slider to control how many characters of live transcription appear in the overlay.

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Transcription Preview Length

The transcription preview character limit controls how much live text the overlay displays at once. You can set it anywhere from 50 to 800 characters, in steps of 50. The default is 150 characters.
  • Lower values (50–100) keep the overlay compact, showing only the most recently spoken words.
  • Higher values (400–800) display more context, useful when you want to review a longer passage while you’re still speaking.

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Disabling the Overlay

To hide the overlay entirely, set the size to Pill in Settings → Overlay. The pill indicator shows that FluidVoice is active without displaying any transcription text. You can also adjust the pill location by going to Overlay → Bottom Ofset to find the best bottom offset for the overlay for you.